meetings in two days; they'd been talking about the new barmaid,
and I guessed at once what brother Vickers would do, an' I rushed off,
just in the middle of brother Humphrey's experiences--and very
interesting they was, too--to save him. He was just starting his second
pot, and singing in between, when I rushed in and took the beer away from
him and threw it on the floor."

"I wasn't singing," snarled Mr. Vickers, endeavouring to avoid his
daughter's eye.

"Oh, my dear friend!" said Mr. Russell, who had made extraordinary
progress in temperance rhetoric in a very limited time, "that's what
comes o' the drink; it steals away your memory."

Miss Vickers trembled with wrath. "How dare you go into public-houses
after I told you not to?" she demanded, stamping her foot.

"We must 'ave patience," said Mr. Russell, gently. "We must show the
backslider 'ow much happier he would be without it. I'll 'elp you watch
him."

"When I want your assistance I'll ask you for it," said Miss Vickers,
tartly. "What do you mean by shoving your nose into other people's
affairs?"

"It's--it's my duty to look after fallen brothers," said Mr. Russell,
somewhat taken aback.

"What d'ye mean by fallen?" snapped Miss Vickers, confronting him
fiercely.

"Fallen into a pub," explained Mr. Russell, hastily; "anybody might fall
through them swing-doors; they're made like that o' purpose."

"You've fell through a good many in your time," interposed Mr. Vickers,
with great bitterness.

"I know I 'ave," said the other, sadly; "but never no more. Oh, my
friend, if you only knew how 'appy I feel since I've give up the drink!
If you only knew what it was to 'ave your own self-respeck! Think of
standing up on the platform and giving of your experiences! But I don't
despair, brother; I'll have you afore I've done with you."

Mr. Vickers, unable to contain himself, got up and walked about the room.
Mr. Russell, with a smile charged with brotherly love, drew a blank
pledge-card from his pocket and, detaining him as he passed, besought him
to sign it.

"He'll do it in time," he said in a loud whisper to Selina, as his victim
broke loose. "I'll come in of an evening and talk to him till he does
sign."

Miss Vickers hesitated, but, observing the striking improvement in the
visitor's attire effected by temperance, allowed a curt refusal to remain
unspoken. Mr. Vickers protested hotly.

"That'll do," said his daughter, indecision vanishin